Banana Muffins

3-4 overripe bananas
1/2 C. sugar
1/3 C. melted butter
1 egg
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 1/4 C. whole wheat flour
1/2 C. rolled oats
1/3 C. pecans or walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350

Mash bananas in a large bowl. Add sugar, melted butter and egg until combined. Mix in cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, flour, oats and nuts until moistened. Pour mixture into greased muffin tins. Bake 20-25 min or until toothpick comes out clean. 
Makes 12 regular size muffins or 36 mini.

Gram's Buttermilk Pancakes

Just because I am really missing this lady:

GRAM'S BUTTERMILK PANCAKES

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

2 Tbls oil

2-3 cups buttermilk (add to desired 

consistency - I like ours really runny)

Irish Soda Bread

1/2 cup white sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
3 cups raisins (I don't add these)
1 TB caraway seeds (I don't add these either)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 inch round cast iron skillet, or 9 in round cake or baking pan. (I like to use and oval casserole dish that way it only bakes for an hour.)

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, raisins(optional), and caraway seeds (optional). In a small bowl, blend eggs, butter milk and sour cream. Stir the liquid mixture into the flour mixture just until flour is moistened. Knead dough in bowl about 10 to 12 strokes, Dough will be sticky. Place the dough in the prepared pan. Bake for 60-75 min.

Sage and Parmesan Croutons

3 oz. white crusty bread (about 3 thick slices), cut into 1-inch pieces

1 lg clove garlic, minced

1 Tbls. finely chopped fresh sage 

3 Tbls. olive oil

1/2 tsp. salt

2 Tbls. finely grated Parmesan

Preheat oven to 375.  Toss all ingredients together in a mixing bowl to coat.  Spread evenly on a baking sheet and toast in oven for 10-12 minutes or until crisp and golden brown.

It's hard to eat store-bought croutons on a salad after tasting homemade ones, and this is the basic recipe I use.  I usually double or triple it, and I've tried other herbs on them, too.  Thyme is really tasty to use instead of sage, but I'm a huge fan of thyme on anything.  (Next best herb to basil...)  

Crockpot, Soup & Bisquits!

Yay, I was glad to see a new post!
Erin, here is one of my favorite and easiest crockpot recipes ever!
Soft Chicken Tacos:
4 chicken breasts
1 bottle salsa
Cook on low all day and just before serving stir in 16 oz sour cream. Serve on flour tortilla shells with all the taco fixins.

And my favorite Minestrone Soup recipes (that just happens to be made in a crockpot):
3 c. vegetable broth
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (15 oz) can white cannellini beans (I use two for the extra protein)
2 carrots, peeled & diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 cup diced onion
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried sage
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp each salt & ground pepper
Combine in slow cooker and cook on low 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours, 30 minutes before serving add:
1 1/2 cups pasta (shells, wheels or elbow mac)
1 med zucchini diced
2 cups fresh spinach
Serve with Parmesan cheese.

And finally Buttermilk Biscuits (I have never made these, but I have the best cookbook on the planet and every recipe I try from it is perfect, let me know how they are):
1 c unbleached all purpose flour
1 c plain cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
8 tbsp cold butter, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
3/4 c cold buttermilk
2 tbsp plain yogurt
Heat oven to 450. Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, sugar & salt in a bowl, add cold butter and use fingertips to blend together until in is course mixture. Stir in the buttermilk & yogurt and stir together with rubber spatula until mixture forms a soft, sticky ball. Transfer to a lightly floured surface & form into ball (careful not to overmix!!) cut into quarters, then cut each quarter into thirds. Place on ungreased baking sheet & bake 10-12 minutes.

Delicious Wheat Bread

About a year ago a high school friend who lives nearby told me about a great recipe for wheat bread. I went to her house and she gave me a demonstration and I have been making it ever since. It is healthy, delicious and relatively easy to make. I have a wheat grinder and grind my own wheat for it but I am sure you could use whole wheat flour from the store. This year for Christmas I gave about 12 loaves away, with a jar of jam, to neighbors and friends. Everyone loved it. I have a big kitchen aid mixer but I do this all by hand and it really isn't a big deal. In fact, I think it is kind of therapeutic kneading the dough. So, if anyone feels ambitious or is wanting a good bread recipe, here you go.

Perfect Whole Wheat Bread

10+ cups whole wheat flour (freshly ground white wheat is the best)
2 T. yeast (SAF) - this yeast comes in a vacuum packed block, I buy it at Macey's
½ c. wheat gluten - this is just on the baking aisle and it says right on it wheat gluten
4 c. warm water
1/3 c. oil
1/3 c. honey
1 T. salt

Combine 4-6 cups of the flour, yeast, gluten and water together in a large bowl. Mix/stir for one minute. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes. Add oil, honey, salt, and the rest of the flour a little at a time until the dough handles easily. Knead by hand until elastic, about 12 minutes. Keep adding flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to the table. Divide into three portions for loaves and place in bread pans. Let rise on the counter until they double in size, about 30 minutes; just watch them so they don’t rise too much lest they fall during baking. Bake @ 350 for 30 minutes.

****If you are ever in the market to invest in a big wheat grinder, NutriMill is awesome.

Orange-Cranberry Pull-Apart

This was a request.....ENJOY!!!


24 Rhodes Dinner Rolls, slightly thawed but still cold
1 small box non-instant vanilla pudding
1/2 cup sugar
1 orange rind, grated
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice


Cut rolls in half. Mix pudding, sugar and orange rind together. Dip rolls in butter and then in pudding mixture. Arrange, alternately with dried cranberries in sprayed bundt pan. Pour any leftover butter and pudding mixture over rolls. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double or even with the top of the pan. Remove wrap and bake at 350* for 30-35 min. Cover with foil last 15 min of baking.

Immediately after baking invert onto a serving platter. Combine powdered sugar, butter and orange juice. Mix well. Drizzle over pull-aparts.

My Grandma's White Bread

For Thanksgiving this year I made this bread to use in the stuffing, when ever I make bread for us to eat I always try to make a healthy recipe - whole wheat flour, oatmeal, etc. Filipe and Mir liked this bread so much they asked me to make it again so they could actually enjoy some of it (I only let them have a slice - it was for stuffing!). It is my Grandma's recipe and is not one bit healthy, but I do have to admit - it is really, really good. It makes great toast and grilled cheese sandwiches - plus it makes the house smells so cozy and warm, very good up here in the Northwest in December while it is wet, cold and gets dark around 4:30!!!

This recipe make 4 loaves (they freeze pretty good), but you can easily half it.

Grandma's White Bread

1 qt. milk (whole works best), warmed

1 cube butter, melted

2 tblsp yeast
1/2 cup sugar

3 tblsp salt (I told you it wasn't healthy!)

8-12 cups flour

Dissolve the yeast and sugar into the milk. Add 4 cups flour and then the salt. If you have a Kitchenaid Mix use the dough hook and add flour a cup at a time until it doesn't stick to the sides, if not add flour until the dough is workable without sticking to your hands. Let double in size once, shape into loaves, let double again and them bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.

Sunday Dinner Rolls

My assignment for Thanksgiving dinner was the rolls. I made 96 rolls in about 3 hours on Thursday morning. They were a hit and I told Bonnie I would post the recipe here. This is a great recipe because it is quick and easy and the rolls turn out great every time. By the way, I didn't come home with one roll. All 96 were eaten by the end of the day.

Sunday Dinner Rolls

1 c. warm water

2 T. yeast

½ c. sugar
3 eggs, beaten

½ c. melted butter

1 tsp. salt

4 ½ c. flour

Mix water, sugar and yeast and let sit for a couple of minutes to dissolve. Add eggs and melted butter. Mix in flour and salt. I just mix by hand in a large tupperware bowl. Knead a couple of times to make sure everything is mixed in. Mixture will be sticky. Cover with warm towel and let rise about 45 minutes. Divide dough in half and roll out like a big pizza. Spread melted butter all over dough and cut like a pizza into 16 slices. Roll slices starting at the large end and place on cookie sheet. Let rise again after they are formed (about 30-45 minutes). Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.

Pizza Dough Recipe

Here is a pizza dough recipe!
I have been using this for awhile now, we prefer this to take-out any day!

Two Crusts Pizza Dough-

-2 packages dry yeast

-1 cup warm water

-2 1/3 to 2 2/3 cup all-purpose flour

-2 teaspoons olive or vegetable oil

-1 teaspoon salt

-1/2 teaspoon sugar

Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl. Stir in half of the flour, all of the oil, salt and sugar. Then stir in enough of the remaining flour to make the dough easy to handle.
Place dough on lightly floured surface. Knead about 10 minutes or until smooth and springy. Place dough in greased bowl, turning dough to grease all sides. Cover and let rise in warm place for 20 minutes.
Gently push fist into dough to deflate. cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours but no longer than 48 hours.
These are the directions straight from my book, I rarely ever have time to put it in the fridge for 2 hours, I just shape it into the pan (I use a sheet cake pan) and put the toppings on and let it sit while the oven heats up. My tip is to coat the pan (heavily) with olive oil and brush the entire top of the crust with evoo (ha!) before you put the stuff on it. Then cook it in a super hot oven (450-475) until the crust is puffy and the cheese is starting to brown. Let me know how it works out!

Aunt Kay's Refrigerator Rolls

My Aunt Kay is my favorite and her rolls can't be beat. Growing up I remember all of us hovering near the oven waiting for the next batch to come out. Who knows how many rolls each of us would consume in one sitting, Aunt Kay must have made hundreds of these and for me it would not be Thanksgiving or Christmas with out them.


1 c. shortening
3/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1 c. boiling water
2 cakes yeast
1/2 c. lukewarm water
4 eggs
8 c. sifted flour
1 c. cold water


Cream shortening, sugar and salt. Put in beaten eggs. Add boiling water. Stir softened yeast in warm water; add to shortening mixture. Add flour and cold water, alternating. Grease top of dough; cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

Next morning, roll out dough and cut into circles; brush with butter and fold in half. Brush top with butter and let rise 4 hours.

Bake @ 375* for 12 minutes.

Pumpkin Bread and Pumpkin Pancakes

I'll continue on with the pumpkin theme. I've made both of these recipes just this week. In fact we had the pumpkin bread for dinner the other night, that's an okay dinner isn't it? We did have the pancakes for breakfast but that doesn't mean we've never had them for dinner.

Pumpkin Bread

3 cups sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs, beaten
1 (16 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin
2/3 cup water
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Cream the sugar and oil together.
2. Add eggs and pumpkin, mixing well.
3. Mix together the dry ingredients.
4. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture alternately with water.
5. Pour into 2 well greased and floured 9 x 5 inch loaf pans.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours or until tests done.
7. Let stand 10 minutes, remove from pan to cool.
8. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick off center and if it comes out clean the bread is done.
*** Instead of 2- 9x5 pans, I made 3 mini loaves, which took about 40-45 minutes to cook and one 9x5 which took a little over an hour.

Thanks to Lisa F. for the recipe and the picture, I stole it from her blog and it is a picture of the actual finished product.

Good Morning Pumpkin Pancakes

2 c. pancake mix (like Bisquick)
½ cup canned pumpkin
2 T. brown sugar
2 T. vegetable oil
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 eggs
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. vanilla
1 ½ c. (12oz. can) evaporated milk

In large mixing bowl combine pancake mix, sugar, cinnamon and allspice. Add evaporated milk, pumpkin, oil, eggs and vanilla; beat until smooth. Pour ¼ c. batter onto hot griddle.